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March 01, 2009
“Temptation”
Matthew 4: 1-11/Hebrews 4: 14-5:10
Sunday, March 1, 2009
A few months back as we were celebrating Christmas, we noticed that Satan began to work against Jesus as he was born. Satan used the Herod family to attack Jesus and His family. So when we read about the beginning of Jesus’ ministry we are not surprised to find that Satan was very active trying to sabotage the work of Jesus at the very beginning. What we are not expecting is to find the Holy Spirit of God participating in the process. Our passage informs us that “Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil”.
Some of the bible scholars I read obviously had a difficult time with this passage because of the involvement of the Holy Spirit. They seem to be unwilling to allow that the Holy Spirit led Jesus to the place of Temptation. So they posit that The Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness for a 40 day period of prayer and fasting and that at the end of that period, Satan invaded the retreat and tempted Jesus.
Now it is reasonable to assume that Jesus prayed often during the 40 days of the temptation but there is no mention in any of the accounts of these temptations of Jesus praying. Whether or not we are comfortable with this duty of the Holy Spirit, the Bible clearly states that the Holy Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness for the purpose of his being tempted by Satan.
Now I know that in the epistle of James there is the information that God tempts no one. But it does not say that God does not allow us to be tempted or even bring us to the place where we will be tempted. Maybe that is why in the Lord’s Prayer Jesus instructed us to pray that God would not lead us into temptation. That we are instructed to ask God not to lead us into temptation implies that on occasion He does.
If and when He does, it might be for our own strengthening and our own victory, or it might be so we can play some important part in God’s defeating of satan and his evil plans.
While God did not tempt Jesus, the tempting of Jesus was a part of God’s plan for him and for us. The temptations of Jesus were to demonstrate that he was capable of defeating satan. The temptations of Jesus were to allow us to know that Jesus experienced some of the same indignities and temptations that we deal with. The author of the epistle to the Hebrews argues that Jesus had to become like us in order to become our great High priest. Part of His being like us involved His being tempted.
He was tempted to wrongly gain access to food when he may have been near starvation after a 40 day fast.
He was tempted to be publicly recognized and adulated as God’s Son earlier than God’s plan allowed.
And he was tempted to take on and rule the worldly kingdoms. In other words, he was tempted by the lure of political power. Most of us at one time or another have been critical of and disgusted with some of our political leaders when they refuse to enact the reforms they have promised to or when they take part in the corrupt process they promised to change. Rather than being critical we need to take these actions as evidence of the tremendous power that political temptations have on human beings. Jesus was tempted with all the political power in the world and withstood it.
He overcame his temptations because of his wisdom, and his dependence on and knowledge of the Holy Scriptures. His reply to each temptation is a quotation of Scripture.
The meal we are about to participate in is connected to temptations. By receiving this sacrament we acknowledge that Jesus has the power to forgive our sins. Part of that ability comes from his being victorious over all of his temptations, not only the 3 mentioned in our passage.
In this meal we acknowledge that we need the forgiveness that Jesus can impart. We need that forgiveness because we have not been victorious over our temptations.
While we will have Communion at our Morning Prayer Service on Wednesday March 18th, the next opportunity most of us will have to receive this sacrament will be on Holy Thursday and then again on Easter. Wouldn’t it be great if we had less to forgive then than we do now? It would certainly please God if we were better able to overcome more of our temptations between now and then.
How can we accomplish that? Consult the only one who has experienced success at overcoming all temptations. Jesus. Read about him in the Bible and seek his guidance through prayer as you face temptations. It might also be wise to ask God to help you to recognize your temptations.
Let us pray.
Father, we thank you for Jesus, our great, tempted-yet-sinless High priest. Help us to see him as not only our High priest but also our example and counselor in overcoming our temptations.
Pastor David Horner
Faith Presbyterian Church
West Lafayette, IN 47906
Posted by faithpres at March 1, 2009 03:44 PM